So Soon
by MLforthesoul
Summary: Ladybug tries to let down Chat gently. She's in love with someone else, after all- (Reveal Fic; T for Language)
1. The Letdown

Adrien slid his back down the door to his bedroom and sat against it, the moments that had just passed replayed in his head a million times over. His deep sigh and shaky voice were the only noises in his all-too-big room. There was no use in holding back, the tears were already forcing their way to the top of his throat and he had no intention to push them back down. Nathalie was the only one who ever checked on him and only when she absolutely needed to, so there was no worry she'd be up to his room anytime soon. No one to see him at his worst. His spine was already killing him for hunching over but he didn't care enough to move yet. He let his head fall to meet his hands resting on top of his knees. Thoughts danced from one scene of Ladybug to another, each fading like a dream as the next version of her paraded through.

She stood with her back to him, shoulders hunched, arms wrapped around her, under her chest. There was no doubt something unwanted was gonna be said. Seconds before, Chat Noir had playfully tossed out one of his famous pickup lines to her, which only led to the closed off way she stood. As much as her voice was music to his ears, her words stung like a slap in the face.

"Chat, about that. I need to talk to you. I feel so terrible about this but I know if I don't say anything now, it'll be even worse later. So I'll just lay it all out here and now- I don't love you like you love me. I know that you joke when you say things like that but I also know you do love me. I can read it like a book in your eyes and how you look at me. And I would love to feel the same way about you, you're a great guy but, I just can't let myself. There's someone else. I'm sorry- maybe if I had fallen for you first then things would be different but- I really like him and if I let myself fall for you too then it would just feel like betrayal. I'm sorry. I don't _ever_ want you to feel like I'm leading you on. I don't know if he and I would ever get together but, if we ever did I wouldn't want potential feelings for you to be in the way, you know? I love you Chat, but not like you want. I hope you understand and this doesn't affect how we work together as heroes? I don't mind the cheesy lines or names but don't expect anything more from it."

Somewhere in the middle of her rambling, Ladybug turned around and dropped her hands to her hips, looking more determined to make her words stick than shy like she was before. He didn't know how to handle it but managed a weak smile. Words still alluded him for a minute, until Ladybug filled the quiet again.

"If you need to go home, we can cancel patrol tonight"

He nodded once or twice and opened tried to finally answer.

"It's okay, I'm glad you told me. And I never thought you were leading me on, I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. You saying it out loud is a little jarring though, I guess."

Taking her up on the previous offer, he started to leave. Not trying to pull any fancy tricks to jump away on his baton, he just walked down the stairs from the roof to the sidewalk. He didn't care enough to leave in any special way. No point in trying to impress her.

Of course, she was kind and caring and understood he'd need to take the time to process it. She just had to be sweet about it all. She couldn't even give him a reason to be upset. He knew she had every right to turn him down. She didn't owe him shit. He flirted and tried his luck at _his_ risk. At least she let him down gently.

"Plagg, I can feel you behind my head judging me."

The kwami zipped back towards the floor boards below, just in time for Adrien to look up at him

"Hey, it's not every day I have to watch my kid cry, okay?"

His head fell back down

"I am a grown boy, so why the _Fuck_ am I crying over a girl?"

The curse came out, as rare as they were for him, shakier than the rest. His whole body convulsed into what he had been holding back since he left Ladybug standing on a roof in the middle of town. At least his body waited till he was alone to give into the wave of emotion.

"Plagg, why did I have to fall for someone so- unavailable?"

His floating demigod best friend knew there was no use in answering the kid, that he just needed to let it out to someone.

"Even if I somehow made her fall for me. Head over heels. In love, completely and wholeheartedly, there's no telling if we could ever be together. She doesn't know who I am. I don't know who she is, as badly as I want to."

She was unattainable to him. Always right there but so far out of his reach.

"I don't want to see her happier with somebody else. But someday, if they get together she might want me to meet him. The savior of Paris' _boyfriend_ "

He spat the word, full of hate that he couldn't use it about himself.

"I'll shake his hand and smile. I'll have to. There's no use in ruining this great thing I have with her as just friends so I'll have to deal with it. It just feels so soon. Like I just fell in love with her and I got so close to her but now she's gone."

Plagg nuzzled his face against Adrien's still shaking shoulders, the first sign of actual affection from him in months. He spoke gently so he wouldn't startle his kid after such long silence from him.

"Well. How do you know they'll even get together? I heard what she said, and it didn't sound to me like they were already dating?"

Adrien took a second to process he was saying something other than shit about fetching cheese for him. While he thought of a reasonably sane response, he stood and slinked to his bed across the huge room. Splaying down across it, he slowly answered, making use of his hands in the air above him where Plagg now floated. The sudden roller coaster of emotions making him drowsy.

"Because she's Ladybug, duh? She's amazing and sweet and caring and the _savior of Paris._ Anyone that she's interested in who didn't accept her love is an idiot. A fool."

Plagg always loved to hear Adrien call someone a fool but right now, it just made him sad. Hearing him try so hard to act like himself but just sounding even more depressed

"You know, she probably means that whoever she is in civilian form loves someone else. Someone who probably doesn't know she's a superhero. You gotta look on the bright side, kid. She could get over him someday, and she did kinda say if it weren't for him she might like you. You're the black cat, the epitome of bad luck."

Adrien muttered whatever response he could to what Plagg said until he finally let the exhaustion of feelings overtake him, spilling into sleep before he could really notice it.


	2. The School Day

_Snap_

The still tired kid sat up onto the edge of his bed, his kwami catching himself from falling off of where he was laying on his chest moments before.

 _Pop_

Every joint made a different groaning noise with each slow movement. Adrien had fallen asleep the night before talking to Plagg in an uncomfortable position that, at the time, didn't seem so terrible. But after being there for almost an entire night, passing out there was the worst choice he ever unknowingly made. After his head stopped throbbing for long enough to gather his bearings, he realized what had woken him up so abruptly. His phone buzzed and screamed next to him as he tried to grab it and shut it up. The majority of his self wanted to fling back down into a more comfortable position and skip school. But he knew one day of headaches and mild emotions didn't warrant risking being allowed to attend at all. After a quick shower, his head was less fuzzy and he could feel the tension fade away. Showering always helped.

He rode in the back of the car down the same roads he always did, till he got to the school and waited near the same door he always waited by for the same friends he's had all year. Nothing was different but Adrien himself. Not even that really, it was more like it was _Chat_ that was different. The love of his life had just let him down and there was nothing he could do about it. She was in love with someone else and as much as he wanted her to be his, he also wants her to be happy. There was a constant battle taking place inside his head, one side wanting to scream and sob and use a terrifying Cataclysm. The other was the part taking over his actions for the day. The numb side.

His classes continued as always whether he was there in his mind or not. just before lunch started, he could vaguely hear Nino ask him a question, pulling him at least halfway back down to Earth. Ignoring it, in favor of zoning back out, his friends tried again to catch his attention. The only reason he snapped out of it, at last, was feeling something coming from behind bonk off of his head. One of the girls had tossed something at him to get him to answer Nino. Judging by the side it hit on, probably Alya

"Huh? Sorry, what'd you ask?"

All three of them looked some ratio of confused and worried but he tried to brush it off.

"Dude, that's the first thing you've said to me all day, where are you right now?"

He mumbled something that wasn't quite a word and rubbed where whatever hit him had bounced off. He assumed it was the paper ball that was now laying on his desk near him.

"He _asked_ , are you coming to the bakery with us to get some sweets for lunch"

Alya's voice rang out in a sarcastic way, less concerned for him than the others obviously. During the girl's comment, the bell rang and he stood to put away his things with the rest of them. He didn't voice any response, just nodded and followed behind the rest of the group across the street. It was a walk just long enough to admire the girl walking directly ahead of him, who was now laughing at something Alya had said. Her head was thrown back and eyes snapped closed, not any kind of care in the world. For just a split second, his head was clear. When he heard her giggling still after her head came back down, it was a little foggy but almost clear. Why could Marinette do that but not his other friends or driver or Plagg or anyone else he had talked to in the 15 or so hours since he had his heart broken. He hadn't even talked to her, just heard her laugh. Not even a laugh caused by him. Maybe it was a coincidence, his brain was clearing up by itself and it just happened at the same time he heard her. Or maybe there was something else to it, something deeper than the surface he had barely scratched with her

He didn't have as much time to dwell on thoughts about Marinette as he would've wanted since they were inching closer to her parents' bakery. The group passed people ordering the best cookies in Paris and headed for the kitchen upstairs. Marinette's parents had given them permission months ago to come by and stay for lunch whenever they wanted, though they hardly took advantage of it. Tom and Sabine greeted them and called out about there being leftovers in the fridge while they climbed the stairs. Mari had grabbed a plate of cookies before she ran up, whether they were placed there for them or she had actually stolen them, he had no idea. But he was certainly grateful.

Marinette and Alya danced around the kitchen finding food for everyone, settling on some honey garlic chicken that was left over from the night before. He didn't realize how starving he was till he smelled the amazing mixture of the bakery downstairs and the lunch in the microwave. The boys pulled down glasses and poured juice while the girls portioned out food and heated it all up. For once that day Adrien joined into the conversation while they all dodged each other moving around the room. They took the chance that had opened up during eating the meal to question Adrien about why he was acting strangely all morning.

"Ehh, I'm fine"

Was pretty much all the answer he had given him.

"You were _not_ fine, my man" was Nino's way of weaseling information out of his friend. Adrien groaned and smacked his head into his arms and mumbled about _yes I am, it's all good._ Alya leaned forward over her now empty plate and grabbed his collar, lifting his head up. She examined his face for a second and dropped it back down.

"It's a girl problem"

He shifted his head so his eyes poked up at her

"What makes you think that?" Nino asked

Alya just generally motioned to him up and down and the boy in question shook his head in his elbow

"Are you a sorcerer or are you just lucky" he finally piped back up.

"Magic, duh? So spill. Who's the lucky lady making you all lovesick and dazy?"

Marinette shifted in her seat, a little uncomfortable. Alya's hand slid under the table and onto her knee, reassuring her it would be fine.

"She's really cool- none of you probably know her. Courageous and sweet and- _Ah_ you guys probably don't care about that. No, you wanna know why the great Adrien Agreste is upset about the girl. Well, she doesn't like me. She's into someone else…"

Mari relaxed a bit but almost immediately felt guilty that she was happy about him being rejected. Nino's mouth fell open in sarcastic shock.

"Someone isn't in love with the great Agreste model?! How dare they!"

His hand flew to his chest to further the awe before they all laughed a bit, even the model himself. Marinette's laugh making him feel lighter once again.

They all came to the same realization after Nino ragged on him that it was time to leave almost so they started to clean up. The conversation didn't change as they moved around and walked back to school. The other 3 continued joking about the _shock_ that a girl in the world didn't love him. He laughed it off with them, expecting it to be dropped soon. All he really focused on was how the smell of cookies followed them out and the way Mari walked a little closer before. While they climbed the stairs on their way up to the school, Mari was so close to him that she actually stumbled over him a bit on the steps. His hand snaked around to her back to make sure she was okay and stable, lingering a second after she had regained her balance. Both faces turning a shade of red and shying away from each other. The rest of the way into the classroom was walked in silence, Adrien and Marinette overthinking the simple gesture and Alya and Nino silently wishing the two would wake up and smell the crushes already.

Adrien sat through classes, absentmindedly taking notes and doodling little ladybugs next to them. While he was distracted by one particularly adorable black cat next to all the bugs, his teacher paired all of them off to work on a short project. She offered to let the students choose for themselves who to work with and let the stragglers pair up afterward. She asked Nino for his partner first because he was the first seat in the class, he chose Alya, smiling to himself evilly. He knew Adrien, who wasn't paying any attention, would be next and would inevitably try to pick him. The teacher jotted down the two names and moved on to Adrien while Marinette gawked at Alya for abandoning her.

"Adrien, you can pick your partner next"

"Uh, yeah, sorry, um- Nino I guess?"

The teacher glared at him under her glasses and gently reminded him Nino already had a partner, making his face turn light pink as he realized he'd been caught not paying attention. He panicked a bit, noticing Chloe trying to get his attention from his side.

"Ah! Of course! Um- Marinette, then!"

He could hear the girl he called out behind him making less than word-like noises and Alya telling her quietly

"Aye- it's better than Chloe"

The actual words being answered with another non-word and a huff.

They all paired off to separate benches after everyone chose their partners, nobody making much of a shocking choice except for the original four. The project was to be on a current event that pertained to the both of their personal lives, from what he gathered in the couple seconds he glanced over his partner's notes. She said something about it being a way to learn about current events while compromising on what to do and study some research methods. Their obvious choice was the fashion industry so they pulled out phones and began searching. When nothing came up, they had to find a new topic.

"We both like video games? I'm sure we could find something for that?"

Adrien offered the idea but to no avail. There wasn't anything interesting enough to do an entire paper on.

"Uh- Ladybug and Chat Noir! They're always doing cool stuff, right?"

He gave another suggestion but it was shot down again after a second or two

"But- wait- isn't it supposed to be a personal topic?"

They both almost glazed over that part, forgetting the other didn't know that it _was_ a personal matter for them. They continued googling and searching for random things until something came up, finally. Marinette threw her fist into the air in victory

"I've got it! She never said it had to be an _important_ event right? Just one that pertains to us both? You love sweets and I work in a bakery! There's a man right here in Paris that matches his pastries to his shoes! That's super cute and lighthearted so it wouldn't be too boring to write about, right? And it's only a page or two requirement so it wouldn't be difficult either."

Adrien beamed, an odd sense of pride washing over him. Proud that she was smart and got creative like that. He quickly diminished it, deciding once again not to question further why he was feeling like this towards her all of the sudden."That's a great idea! And how cool would it be if when we present tomorrow, we bring pastries and wear matching shoes ourselves!"

Mari lit up at his plan and giggled, nodding excitedly.

"We can go to my house after school and bake them- I mean if you want, of course."

They agreed on when and where to meet up after the last bell and started writing out the first paragraphs of their paper.

((Thanks for reading part two! I've planned out 8 chapters in total in case anyone wanted to know, but that number is very subject to change))


	3. The Baking Scene

((A/N: There's not a ton of plot for this chapter, I'm not gonna lie. There is, however, a baking scene. This is the first time I've written a baking scene for this fandom even though I've been a part of it for months which is really a shame))

After the last class ended Marinette walked to the school entrance with her best friend, receiving a world-famous Alya pep talk. She was the queen of instilling confidence in anyone who needed it and the anxious girl needed every syllable she had to offer.

"Girl, calm down, you will be fine. You haven't stuttered to his face in like 2 days which is a huge accomplishment! And you'll be teaching him something you do every day, you're totally in your element so it'll be okay. It's not like it's a date, right? There's nothing to panic about, it's just school work"

They took their time, thinking Adrien would probably need to go to his locker before meeting them but he was waiting for them when they got to their meeting spot. He waved at the two but only got a shy wave back from Marinette, Alya giving a thumbs up and dashing away before the other girl could notice. She only glanced to the now empty space near her when it earned a light laugh from Adrien.

Marinette led the boy down the street to her parents' bakery, warning him they could be a little over bearing, especially when it's someone she trusted enough to let bake with her. He looked flattered at the off handed comment that she trusted him

"Do you not bake with others often? Aww, I'm special!"

She blushed for the 2nd time because of him that day and covered her mouth with her hand

"Uh- yeah I guess. Usually, I find that people don't respect the baking as much as my parents and I. So I just don't bother anymore. It's a little frustrating that some don't understand the _perfection_ needed to make it taste like it should"  
He knew she was talking about the difficult pastries she always made, judging by how exasperated she sounded. She never got this heated over simple cupcakes or cookies.

"But I think you eat enough sweets, especially my dad's, that you should get it. And you do stuff like fencing and piano and shit so you should know about people underestimating abilities and all"

He agreed quickly, hoping she'd keep talking because he found it cute how passionate about it she was.

"Ah- sorry, I'm rambling aren't I? Anyway, we're here. Brace for my parents"

He knew he shouldn't have thought too loudly or else the universe would hear and therefore jinx him. He had been enjoying the girl's talking instead of watching where they were going, resulting in ending up in front of the bakery before he noticed it. They entered, trying not to disturb the working couple but being bombarded anyway.

"Hey, Mari. And ooh you brought a friend! Adrien right? Welcome back!"

Sabine greeted them while she rang up a customer. Her daughter didn't let him stop for pleasantries too long before dragging him upstairs by his wrist and shouting down

"We're gonna go work on some school stuff!"

They lingered in the kitchen for a moment before they addressed what to bake.  
"Hmm- The guy we're basing it on does eclairs a lot, right? And those don't look super hard from what I've seen on Food Network?"

Marinette didn't have time to stop herself. She let it slip past before she could help it

" _You_ watch the food network?"

It's a miracle he knew she was kidding considering the accusatory tone, but he laughed along with her anyway and asked

"What? It's quality entertainment!"

He got jokingly defensive before she agreed that eclairs would be fine.  
"Okay so, what colors are we planning on? He did some beautiful ones that were like baby pink and lime green, I have the pink shoes to match too. Do you have any lime ones?"

He shook his head excitedly  
"This gonna be so awesome, we'll match each other and the sweets!"  
She tried not to blush again until

"Match our shoes to our choux!"

He eyebrow wiggled at his own joke and Marinette just smacked her face into her hands

"Not you too" she muttered to herself. When he asked what she said, she recomposed herself

"That was terrible. And besides, I saw that same article earlier. So terrible _and_ unoriginal"

Her pun-shaming reminded him of his lady for just a second before he pushed her from his mind. He had made it this far into the day not moping about her, he wasn't ready to start now.

"But- but- Okay, fine, I saw it online but still a good pun!"

She ignored his defense and instead asked him to grab out a stick of butter from the fridge while she poured water into the pot on the stove.  
They mixed and shaped the batter fairly quickly and tossed it in the oven, moving on to the creme to go inside. They finished it and put it in the fridge to chill, leaving them with 10 or so minutes before they'd have to do anything else.

Marinette lifted to herself onto the counter next to the oven with ease. They wanted to stay in the kitchen in case anything exploded with their treat bases.

"You can read off of the essay while I pass out these babies?"  
He motioned to the oven while she eyed him suspiciously

"Why do you get to pass them out?"  
"Do you really wanna deal with Chloe and food again?Remember how that ended last time?"  
She shrugged, knowing what he said made a lot of sense

"Yeah, no Robocop this time- hopefully"

Her comment made him chuckle a little but change the subject.

"So after we fill them, what do we still have to do?"  
She thought for a second about what they actually _did_ still have. When they picked out the lime and pink ones, she didn't think too much about what they'd need to do other than just make the eclairs. That was a plus side to living above a bakery, she didn't need to worry about what ingredients she needs because there's a significant chance she already has them. She pulled out her phone and looked at the picture she was working off of, considering it deeply

"Well, the topping is a really light pink so I'm guessing he colored a quick glaze? But that doesn't explain how opaque it is, so maybe it's colored white chocolate? That might be easier too actually. Yeah. And these look like pretty simple gum paste colored pink and green. Yeah."

She was mainly mumbling to herself the whole speech, raising her voice to a normal level for him

"Yeah, okay. We still need to color and melt some white chocolate. Then after we dip them into it, we can shape the gum paste into the little circles and I'll paint the paw onto them"

She turned her phone to him so he could see what she was envisioning

"Oh, those are so cute! I didn't realize there were paw prints on it?"

She got a little nervous about not having run the actual pastries by him and just starting instead.  
"Do you not like the paw?"

He reassured her as the oven _dinged_

"No that's fine, they're super cute!"

She hopped down from her spot and grabbed some oven mitts to take it out. Adrien's jaw fell in awe, she could've sworn she saw him drool a bit too

"Those look and smell _amazing"_

He looked them over, getting dangerously close to the flustered girl and the hot pan. He reached out to touch one but got a smacked hand instead  
"Okay first, you'll burn yourself. Two, you haven't washed your hands in like 20 minutes! You'll get them all germy"

Conflicted, he was sad that he had his hand shooed away but wanted to giggle at her reasoning for it. He chose to look dejected

"But I wanna touch themm"

She wagged her finger in his face and let out a stern _No_. The way she had to scold him for doing something dumb reminded him again of Ladybug, which he quickly tried to ignore.

After he stopped trying to poke the desert and set them aside to cool, she got out the cream mix and piping bags. She put together her bag and started to put together his when he stopped her hands

"Wait, I wanna do mine. It looks cool"  
"Uh- Okay? Yeah, sure. Did you see how I did mine or do I need to show you?"

He took all the plastic bits from her and held it, shoving the first one into place

"I got this one. Now… this?"

He took the next part and did it correctly, almost to her surprise. He finished off, officially impressing Marinette

"Nice! It took me 2 or 3 tries the first time I did one of those as a kid. I kept putting the spiny-bit before trying to put on the metal tip"

He handed her the bag back for her to fill

"Like I said, Food Network is some quality entertainment. Educational, even. Thanks for letting me try it, I uh- don't get to do much for myself at home"

Marinette cocked her head a little confused and looked back at him, handing over the filled piping tool

"I have a cook and driver and all that shit, so I don't get to do a lot by myself. I have to sneak in the kitchen at night to try to learn to cook so whenever I live alone I know how"

"Ahh well, if you ever wanted, you could sneak over here and cook with me. I'll let you do all the hard work and everything"

She mentally smacked herself for speaking without thinking. _Flirting_ without thinking. He didn't seem to mind though, eagerly shaking his head and saying

"That sounds awesome!"  
~~

After the desserts were filled and coated in a thick pink chocolate, they hunted down the gum paste. She colored it the right shades of pink and green while he cut out the ones that needed to stay white. They had fallen into a fast working pace, leaving not much time for talking. They weren't in total silence though, Adrien having started some music a couple minutes before. They hummed along to a slightly cheesy pop song while they decorated till the song changed

"Really, Adrien?"  
"Oh, oops. How did _that_ get on this playlist"

The opening to Ouran High School Host Club played in the background, causing the embarrassed boy to make a mad dash to his phone

"No, leave it! It's cute, I haven't heard this in forever"

She wiggle/danced to the music and shouted along to the next line

" _MAYBE YOU'RE MY LOVE!"_

Adrien laughed behind her and shook his butt to the tune too. They both laughed loudly, pausing the actual singing in favor of making not-quite-words once the song switched to a foreign language.

"I didn't know you watched anime, Agreste"  
He nodded excitedly while they tried to get back to working on the sweets. Adrien was now cutting out all of the colored pieces while Marinette drew the paws on the white ones with an edible marker. The musical interruption gave room for a little more talking than before, the air feeling far less serious now.

"These are gonna look so awesome! After this do you want me to finish the essay or we can do it together like in class? We only have a couple sentences left, I think." Adrien asked.

She looked over at the clock and realized it was almost 6 and she needed to meet Chat for patrol at sundown. Seeing her glancing at the time made him do the same

"As long as it's done before sundown, I can stay to finish it if you don't want one of us to do it alone"

She considered it before answering

"Yeah, we can finish it together, if you want. I have to be out by sundown too. These should be done soon and if we not I can finish them up alone later. I'd just have to stick them on with some of the chocolate and put them in the fridge. The hard part's done already."

He completely ignored 90% of what she said

"Ooooo, you've gotta be out by sundown, got a hot date?"  
She rolled her eyes and mumbled

"He wishes. What about you, must be hot to drag _you_ away from _eclairs_ "  
He shied away a bit, Marinette noticing immediately

"It's the girl that made you upset earlier, isn't it?  
"How do you people keep doing that?! I said _nothing_ and you still knew! Are all girls magic?"

She decided to not address the crush shaped elephant sitting in the room further, just nodding instead. Soon the conversation shifted back to what still needed to be typed out once they finished the sweets.

* * *

They finished the baking part of the project (The part completely unassigned and not necessary at all) with plenty of time to work on the essay after. They sat at Marinette's desk, Adrien typing away fervently and Mari focusing on note cards to aid the presentation. She used different colored markers to indicate levels of importance and relevance of the information listed per card. She wanted to be able to easily flip through to figure out what needed to be said first in case they ran out of time. She was in the middle of the last card, a pink low-importance one, when the keys next to her stopped clinking.

"That is that! The essay is done and spectacular!"

She glanced over his shoulder at the screen, seeing a page and a half of text with citations at the bottom. She nodded and gave a thumbs up

"I'm just finishing up the last note card, too"

"Awesome! Wanna run them by me and I'll read out the paper?"

She realized the sun outside of her window was threatening to set soon

"As much as I'd love that, it's almost sundown. We've both got hot dates remember?"

He stood a little, reaching for his book bag

"Oh wow. I didn't even see that. I guess we'll just have to trust each other's judgments on how it turned out and hope for the best tomorrow right?"

She nodded with no words, scared she might say something stupid if she dared speak at all.

"And now, this princess has to leave before I turn back into a maid. See you tomorrow, Prince Charming. Don't forget my _choux"_

Her face met the palm of her hand again, but by the time she looked up he was gone


	4. The Realization

Adrien raced down the steps away from Marinette's room, fear motivating his fast pace. He didn't want her to catch up to knock him over the head for another bad pun. Or for calling her his prince charming. He laughed a little at the thought of himself in a ball gown, dancing with a suited Marinette. His pace cooled down after he got back into the bakery, passing her parents who were now cleaning up after the business day ended. He excpected more intrusion than what he was met with when she said they were overbearing. When he got out to the sidewalk he came to a sudden halt, not knowing which direction to go. If he headed towards his mansion, he'd check in with Nathalie and sneak out of the back window to meet Ladybug but he'd probably be late. If he went straight to where they meet, he'd be a little early and not have to deal with Nathalie face to face. He let his feet carry him towards the Eiffel tower, not knowing why he stopped at all after the thought about it. As he walked he pulled out his phone and texted Nathalie

 **'Something went wrong with the essay and it got erased. We have to start over, so I'll be home pretty late.'**

He knew it was bullshit but lying to cover up being a superhero became very easy after about a week of having his ring. He felt a reply vibrate through his jeans but didn't bother to look at it before crossing the street to get to a nearby alley.

Chat Noir waited on the ledge of the Parisian tourist sight, waiting for his partner. He swung his feet, precariously perched so he could see as much of the skyline as possible. Ladybug dropped down from where her yo-yo caught on the metal. She tried to sneak up on the cat like she did every time he got to patrol first, but like those times too, he heard her coming.

"Good evening, my lady"

She smiled sweetly at the name, glad he wasn't changing his ways. She sat down on a less dangerous area of the railing, not answering verbally.

"So, are we just gonna sit here or are you gonna tell me about the guy you like?"

Taken aback, she scrambled for a decent answer

"Do you really wanna know about him?"

"Well yeah. I wanna know what you're giving all _this_ up for"

The color drained from her face when she realized he really was serious.

"Uh well. Not to give it all away, he's really sweet and cool and probably way out of my league-"

She trailed off, not wanting to give into feeling upset about him.

"Nonsense, you could get any guy you wanted if you tried. You're amazing, my Lady."

The last sentence made her think of what Adrien said when they were training for the gaming tournament.

"He's _definitely_ out of my league. He's a model and he does so many other extra curricular things I couldn't even count them all. But he's not stuck up about it. He's still caring and nerdy. Dear _God_ is he nerdy. Anime, video games, probably more I don't know about."

She rambled on and Chat watched in awe.

 _Model? Anime and video games?_

"You know I do extra curriculars too"

She scoffed, unsure if he meant it seriously or just trying to make an innuendo.

"Not like that. I mean piano, fencing, Chinese, extra credit homework. He's a really hard worker."

He wanted her to keep rambling because what he had heard so far sounded scarily like himself and the more she talked, the more she revealed. But much to his upset, she stood off of the metal and asked in a mocking tone

"So are we gonna sit here all night or are we gonna do our jobs and patrol?"

He craned his neck to look at her face

"I'm okay with sitting here all night?"

She sighed deeply and motioned with her hand to stand up. He grumpily joined her standing on the platform, mumbling _I don't get paid enough for this sometimes_

"Shit. We get paid?"

The patrol went by as close to normal as it could for Ladybug. For Chat, on the other hand, it was a confusing mess. He couldn't stop thinking about how she described the guy she likes.

 _She was describing me, right? Not Chat, she wouldn't know that about Chat. She was talking about Adrien_

After 20 minutes of walking the streets of Paris, they decided no evil doer was trying to harm the city for the night

Instead of catapulting through the window like usual, he detransformed around the corner and walked in. He couldn't sneak in if he didn't sneak out. He walked up the stairs to his room slower than ever, the thoughts of Ladybug being someone he's close to weighing him as he went. Once he finally to his room he flung himself onto the bed and pulled out his phone. He ignored the message Nathalie sent before he transformed once again and pulled up messages with Nino

 **Hey bro**

He messaged him, keeping it short and sweet. He didn't expect such a fast reply considering it was 10:27 but he got it within seconds

What's wrong? You only call me bro when something's wrong

 **Do you know any girls at school that has a crush on me?**

Why?

 **Bc someone said there's a girl I know well that has a crush on me. That leaves basically just the girls in our class**

He knew it was a kinda shitty lie, but it would work. The texts sent back and forth quickly till he sent the last one, like Nino was considering telling him or not

 **You not answering tells me you know**

I do.. but I'm not getting murdered for telling you

His thoughts raced, not knowing quite how to take what Nino said.

 **Murdered?**

Yes, murdered in cold blood 

**Damn, maybe I shouldn't know if she'd commit murder bc of it**

Not her, her best friend who I'm much more scared of 

He went through all he already knew about the mystery girl. She knew him personally, there was no way she'd know all of that about him no matter how many magazines she read. She has a best friend that Nino is scared of and would murder him

 **Sabrina and Chloe?**

Oh dude, god no

He was more confused than when he started this conversation.

 **Then who? Please tell me?**

He searched around for some gifs of cats making big begging eyes and started to send them through to Nino while he waited for the boy to text him back. It seemed to work once he sent

Fine I'll tell you

But quickly came back crashing down

Her name is imnotgettingmurderedforyou

He audibly groaned, a grumbling Plagg waking up next to him and yelling to shut up before passing back out

 **Please? I really need to know, it's gonna kill me**

For the first time since he realized his Lady was in love with his civilian self, he thought about what it all meant. _If she's in love with Adrien but not Chat Noir, is she shallow? But that wouldn't make sense because superhero is considerably cooler than a model. And she hardly even mentioned that part anyway, she was more impressed by the academics I do._

Fine. Okay? You win, I'm weak to the Agreste charms. It's Marinette

He sucked in a deep breath and considered what it all meant. He remembered the few times that she reminded him of Ladybug. He looked back down at his phone and realized something else

 **Nino.**

Yeah?

 **You're scared of your own girlfriend murdering you?**

Adrien laid in bed for a couple more minutes, trying to piece together what to do.

"Plagg? Do you think 10:35 is too late to pay a visit to Princess?"


	5. The Reveal

"Plagg- Claws Out!"

Before the tired kwami could wake up completely he was being sucked into the piece of jewelry. Chat Noir ran and leaped across roofs faster than he ever had until he got to Marinette's balcony. He perched himself on the edge suddenly realizing what he was doing.

 _Am I really about to wake up one of my only friends and make insane accusations? What if I'm wrong? Would she hate me if I was? At least if she did, she'd only hate one side not Adrien too?_

His mind raced, the word _hate_ flowing through dozens of times until he laughed at his self

 _She doesn't have a hateful bone in her body. She doesn't even hate Cloé she just doesn't like how she treats other people_

That sealed it for him, dropping from the railing and striding over to the window, giving it a tap. Her light was already on, he realized as he got closer. She opened it a moment later with a questioning look. Chat asked if she'd come out to the fresh air with him to talk. She stepped out of the confined glass and leaned where he was sitting moments before.

"What's up? Do you often visit random citizens at 11 pm?"

He smiled, knowing damn well she wasn't just some random person. That she was his partner. After seeing her in person, he had no doubts left she was his Lady. He fought for words, figuring out how he wanted to approach the subject.

"So a friend told me that you are interested in a guy named Adrien."

He elongated his sentence, silence following once it came out.

"May I ask what friend told you this?"

He set the bait, hoping she'd take it"Ladybug?"

Her eyes widened in shock

"Uh, I dunno how she'd have told you that but okay. Yeah, I do. Why?"

He chose to ignore her first comment, feeling self-satisfied that she gave herself away like that.

"What if I told you, I could set you two up?"

She had been paying more attention to the darkened city than her friend till he said that. After looking hopeful for a split second, her face fell again

"If you told me that, I wouldn't believe a word of it? Adrien is- world famous. And an amazing person. I am not even a _blip_ on his radar."

Chat scoffed, answering before he remembered he was supposed to be stealthy

"You're one of his best friends."

Her head fell a little, smiling and exhaling a deep breath."So don't tell me you could do it, show me. Because I still don't believe it. What I do believe, is that it wasn't Ladybug who told you. So don't lie to me when I ask this time-"

She paused only long enough to stand up straight and make eye contact

"Who told you?"

He let his transformation fall, seeing her eyes widen ever so slightly

"You did. Well, Ladybug told Chat _she_ liked me. Nino told me _Marinette_ liked me."

She ignored every word he said except one

" _NINO_? I'm gonna kill that boy. _Alya_ will kill that boy. After tomorrow he will never see the light of day again whether it be me or her"

Adrien laughed whole-heartedly, muttering a _sorry_. Marinette quickly calmed down, returning back to her position against the railing.

"So my crush is my partner?" she was more talking to herself than Adrien but he answered anyway

"So my partner and crush is my friend?"

She smiled again saying _Irony_ in a sing-song voice. She was obviously exhausted, falling quiet soon after.

"Are you disappointed it's me?" she whispered low enough he almost didn't hear

"What? No! Would I have offered to set us up if I _was_?"

"Oh. Yeah. Kinda glazed over that." she smiled her first actually happy smile of the night

He dared ask the question that had been biting his brain for hours

"Why did you fall for me and not Chat? When I'm not wearing my mask, I'm not fully me. I have to act a certain way to uphold an image. When I'm Chat is when I can really be me. So if you only loved Adrien, do you still? Now that you know both sides as one?"

She turned her head in the slightest, side eyeing him

"Who said I _didn't_ love both sides? I told you, if I had fallen for Chat first it'd be different."

He lit up like a little kid, a smile engulfing his face.

"Oh. Yeah. Kinda glazed over that" He repeated her words back to her, expecting some kind of reaction but being met with quiet

"Whatcha thinking about, my lady?"

"Revenge on Nino?"

He laughed again, an idea forming. He pulled out his phone and motioned for her to come closer. She asked what he was about to do while he opened the camera app

"I am helping you get revenge on Nino. You know how he hates when someone starts a story but never finishes it?"

She nodded, being pulled closer to his face. He positioned the camera a couple inches away from them and kissed her cheek, snapping a photo of the affectionate gesture and her adorably shocked face.

"Send this to him and nothing else. I'll have to mute him so my phone doesn't die at the hands of his millions of messages."

He stared at the photo lovingly, thanking whoever was listening to his thoughts for her bedroom light shining behind them. Marinette snickered, loving his diabolical plan. As he sent it to Nino, she pulled out her own phone.

"Could we take one to get Alya back for telling Nino in the first place?"

She positioned the camera in the same place he did after he said yes, now being the one to kiss his cheek.

"Have you sent yours yet?"

He shook his head no

"Wait for a second. We should hit send at the same time. If not they'd spoil it for each other before we ever could"

They held their fingers over the send button on each phone and counted down to hit the button. After it sent through, Adrien and Marinette put both of the other best friends on silent.Nothing was said for a few seconds, the only sound being tapping at the screens. Marinette put her phone on the railing, confident it'd be okay for some reason. It buzzed with a snapchat from Alya, almost falling off. Adrien caught it and glanced down at the bright screen, seeing the photo they had just taken as her background."Oh uh- haha- it's because I look cute in it, okay? So don't get full of yourself" trying to roll her eyes dramatically but blushing too hard. He turned his phone on and faced it towards her to show off his own new background, shaking it slowly back and forth with one hand and scratching his neck with the other. As he did that, the device buzzed with its own snapchats. Soon after, they both had dozens of snaps and kik messages each. Adrien laughed at the attempts of Alya and Nino.

"I think we might have to turn the whole phones off"


	6. The Questions

By the time Adrien transformed back into Chat Noir and headed home from Marinette's balcony, it was almost 12:30. He expected himself to stay up the few hours he had left before school thinking about his Lady but was instead met with fast sleep as soon as he hit his pillow. The last hour and a half was filled with talking and joking about all of _terrible_ villains Hawkmoth had been sending out recently. Once they slowly ran out of laughable names and costumes, they shifted to how many messages Alya and Nino had sent already. The two friends were determined to get an answer for the first 15 minutes, trying to message them on every social media possible. They had racked up dozens of messages each. Thankfully for their poor phones, the two let up after a while. Leaving them be with a string of _;))))_ 's from Alya. Adrien and Marinette talked a lot but carefully danced around the subject of being 'together' or what this meant as partners/friends. He was sad they didn't approach the subject but also figured it'd be better to think about that after a decent night's rest. He was in a sleep so deep that what felt like minutes was actually hours of fanciful dreams about Ladybug and Marinette. When he woke up again light beamed through his window, hitting his eyes blindingly. He got dressed and ready for school with no prompting from Nathalie, unlike most days. He was excited to see his partner and present their amazing project together. After shuffling through his vast closet for a bit to find the right shoes, he put them on and headed out. He printed the essay portion at Marinette's house the day before and shoved it in his bag already so he didn't have to worry about it too much. He rode to school in the usual silence but was somehow more comfortable with it today than the day before. His mind drifted back to where his dream had left off for a short while till the school came into view. He ran past where he knew Nino would be in front of the school, hoping to prolong the inevitable line of questioning. He slowed down and softened his steps when he got closer to Marinette, who was standing in front of her locker. Her back was turned to him so he thought it'd be the perfect chance to get back at her for trying to scare Chat the night before. He snuck up and put his arms around her waist pulling her close with no warning. The sudden contact causing her to squeak and flail her arms in surprise for a split second. Her shock subsided when Adrien laughed and whispered

"Hey, it's just me bugaboo"

She spun around, his arms still lingering on her.

"You can't do that at school, kitty." She stepped back out of his touch and straightened out her clothes. He whined and asked her _why nottt_

"Because- uh- I don't know but-"

He stopped her babbling by placing a comforting hand on her arm

"If you don't want me to I won't"

She waved her hands in front of her body and shook her head

"No! I want you to! Let's just face the questions Alya and Nino have from last night before adding on to them?"

He nodded firmly, trying to muster a _super serious_ face but quickly breaking into a short chuckle. He glanced over her shoulder and saw the two friends coming up to them at an alarmingly angry speed. He muttered out  
"Speak of the devils and they shall appear"  
Before grabbing Marinette's arm and dragging her in the direction of their classroom. She only barely had time to ask what the hell he meant before she was being pulled into Nino's seat in class. They were the only two in the room other than the teacher, Madame Bustier. Adrien had that gleam in his eye that he gets whenever Chat flirts with Ladybug and Marinette recognized it immediately.

"You're gonna make me steal Nino's seat for class today aren't you?"

Adrien nodded while grinning evilly in response. She groaned but agreed before asking if they even could move seats like that. He thought for a second and said

"Well, she never said we exactly have assigned seats, so I guess we could?"

He turned his head to their teacher who wasn't paying them any mind and asked her if it was okay. She didn't bother to look up from her papers, just nodding slowly. He focused back on Marinette, only just realizing she was empty handed.  
"Where are the eclairs we made?"

She saw the confusion painting his face and decided she would love to get back at him for startling her in the hall

"Oh shit, I forgot them!"

His face fell and looked genuinely depressed till she giggled and told him

"I'm kidding. They should be in the back room waiting for us."  
He felt a wave of relief wash over him till the confusion came back

" _Should_ be?"  
She nodded and said

"Yeah, should be. Dad came in and gave them to Madame Bustier while I went to my locker."  
As he let out an _ohhh_ the door opened, letting in more students. They quickly recognized them as Juleka, Rose, and Mylene. They were too caught up in their own conversations to notice the giggling Marinette sitting in Nino's seat as they passed. Once they sat down however, Rose quietly tapped her girlfriend's shoulder and pointed to the two. Juleka motioned for her to keep her voice down and not ask anything about it.

Adrien and Mari were discussing their shoes when more students came in. This time it was Kim and Alix. They chose not to question too, no matter how badly Kim wanted to. Right after the two athletes, Alya and Nino rushed in. The two best friends seemed to realize the stillness in the classroom quickly, adjusting the volume and excitement accordingly.

"Nonono you are not stealing my seat-"  
Alya smacked his chest, forcing the breath out of him. She took his hand and led him to the seat where she used to reside with Mari. They wasted no time in bombarding the two with question after question about the events of last night and this morning. The two being questioned did the best they could to ignore the others, trying to continue their previous conversation. Nino clapped Adrien's shoulder but Alya didn't take well to being left unanswered

"Do not ignore me, child. I saw that lovey dovey cuddling in the hall, you explain yourselves right now!"

She tried to keep her voice low, the others that had slowly trickled in being just as invested as Alya and Nino. The whisper-shouting was replaced by actual shouting as Chloé entered.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY ADRIKINS!?"  
Madame Bustier yelled over the top of the brat's shrill voice for her to calm down. Chloé stomped her feet and crossed her arms, turning to the shushing teacher

"Tell Marinette to move! It's bad enough he's being forced to work with her on this project, now she's sitting next to him!"

Madame Bustier had already focused back to her paper stack, calmly telling her

"We have no assigned seating, they can sit together if they choose. Now please take your seat."

Sabrina tried to urge her friend to move on and let it go but Chloé wasn't having it. She stayed in front of the desk, turning back to Marinette

"You need to unhand my Adrikin's!"

Marinette glared comically at her and motioned between them

"I'm not touching him?"

Adrien spoke up finally

"Chloé just please sit down"

Either her 'Adrikins' telling her to give up on it struck a chord or the bell ringing motivating her to move to her own bench where Sabrina had been sitting since the teacher told them to in the first place. She rubbed her shoulder after she slammed down, trying to calm her. The majority of the kids came in while Chloé was throwing her tantrum but didn't actively try to make themselves known.

After the bell announced the start of class the teacher finally stood and put on a fake-friendly face. The kids went silent as she talked about who would be presenting first for the day. Adrien looked towards his project partner to confirm what he was thinking before raising his hand. Madame Bustier agreed and moved to sit, giving them the floor to speak. He handed Bustier the physical copy of the essay before dodging into the back to grab the sweets they baked. He passed them out while he kept an ear open to hear Marinette speak. She tossed him the pun he had recited to her the day before. He couldn't help but smile. Chloé stuck her nose in the air when offered an eclair, Sabrina taking one for both of them though. The presentation went by quickly, soon after Adrien handed out the last baked good, Marinette finished the oral presentation. He stood next to her for the last couple sentences, Alya noticing how close he was to her and how much he was smiling but Mari being focused on her notecards and the class. After they were done scattered clapping rippled through the room, most kids still having chocolate on their hands and settling for other forms of appreciation instead. Before they could brace themselves for the storm of more questions, their friends were called up to present next. Alya's eyes narrowed and she motioned from her eyes to Marinette, warning her that she was _not_ gonna give up on this. Adrien and Mari laughed silently while they sat back down together, trying to stay quiet enough to not attract the teacher's attention. Luckily for the two, every time one of them tried to catch the attention of the others, they'd catch Bustier's instead and were shushed.

By the time Alya and Nino got the chance to talk to them again, it was almost lunch and everyone had finally presented. They crowded by the first row desks, waiting for the class to be let out. The DJ and the journalist finally gave up on weaseling out answers and let the group was able to carry out a normal conversation. They tossed out some ideas on where to eat lunch before agreeing on a restaurant acclaimed for being healthy around the corner. Alya's argument about just eating hundreds of calories in sweets and needing something to balance it out winning them over. As they walked the short distance together, Nino tried to walk next to Adrien but was pulled back by his girlfriend. They walked in pairs but close together. While they ordered Adrien paid for Marinette's food, much to her protest. Nino did the same for his girl, trying to show off that he can be just as good of a boyfriend. Once they sat, Alya teased about Adrien being the better boyfriend and earned a protest from both friends. Alya looked at them accusingly

"If you're not together, what was last night about? Nino refuses to tell me what happened, but I know he knows!"  
Nino tried to defend himself but was interrupted by Adrien

"No, I don't think he does. He told me that Marinette had a crush on me and I went over to talk to her because I like her too. Then it was _her_ idea to piss you off with the selfies for blabbing."  
Marinette offered no more explanation, just nodding with a blush on her cheeks. Alya grinned widely  
"Well, I'm happy for you. Whether you've sealed the deal or not."

The conversation flowed easier after that until the food arrived, then their mouths were too filled to talk. Adrien spoke again after their salad plates were almost empty. He pierced a piece of cucumber with his fork and held it up for Mari to see

"Hey hey hey. You're a _cute_ cumber"

She shook her head in shame at the words he dared to utter. He decided that reaction wasn't what he wanted and held up a piece of avocado after he ate the previous pun.

"Let's avocuddle?"

Adrien was too caught up in finding the right pun to impress Marinette to notice their other friends' reactions. She, again, didn't react they way he wanted, so he continued

"My heart _beets_ for you"

She tossed her hands in the air a little, exasperated

"There's not even any beets here? None of us are eating beets?"

He stopped for a second, but not acknowledging how she pointed out the flaws in his puns.

"Uhh. Will you _lettuce_ be together?"

Her face shifted from laughing lightly at his shit puns to flushed. She searched for a decent answer and came up with

"I will if you calm down the puns"

He nodded excitedly and said

"Deal!"

She rolled her eyes at him as she turned her head to see Alya and Nino almost as excited as Adrien. She leaned over, ignoring her other friends to whisper into his ear

"I mean kitty has to chill on them too, by the way."  
His excitement faltered but didn't fade much. He stayed gazing at Mari till Nino spoke up a protest

"So this means your big head is gonna be in my way in class for more than just today?"

((A/N: That's the end of So Soon! Thank you so much if you read this far! I have a favor to ask of you, my lovelies. I have an entire story line chilling in my head about Chloé. But it's long. Like, as long if not longer than this story. It's got HC backstory, Ladrien, Chlonath, a Chloé redemption, and more! If you'd like to read it, please let me know with a PM or comment? That'd be awesome!))


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